1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to system and method of remotely controlling several home appliances, and more particularly, to appliance remote control system and method utilizing a voice/character recognition technique.
2. Background of the Related Art
Home appliances and offices equipments in homes or offices which provide users with various facilities include a mobile terminal (remote controller) for remotely controlling the appliance in question at close range to easily control the corresponding appliance.
Considering conventional methods of remotely controlling the home appliances, the mobile terminal is provided with stationary buttons for sending a predetermined key value carrying out a function of the home appliance. The mobile terminal is specified for its purpose, and a separate mobile terminal is provided for a special appliance. Therefore, there is a problem in that the general homes must have a number of mobile terminals.
In addition, such home appliances and the mobile terminals are embedded with a simple controller (or micom), respectively. The embedded controller provides one-directional link between the terminal and appliance to control the home appliance by interpreting the key value sent by the mobile terminal.
Furthermore, since the mobile terminal has no a software processing function, it is not easy to add a high-grade function. Although there is a special mobile terminal supporting a common function, of which key values provided by several companies are previously inputted to control general purpose appliances such as a television set, a video tape recorder and the like, such a method limits a usable range of appliances. Also, in case of a new appliance or other article manufactured by other company, it is impossible to use the common mobile terminal because of compatibility.